Ser Huma
For your final project, you will create a video with sound. This video will be in the structure of horizontal montage. Projects will encompass our newfound skills creating video content and sound art/design. All projects will be edited in Adobe Premiere and exported for viewing in our final critique.
Horizontal (sequence-based) Montage:
The strength of the motion picture medium - its distinct way of conveying ideas - has been described as “the juxtaposition of uninflected images” (David Mamet). The word for this cinematic force is “montage.” (This sense is not to be confused with a random series of images tied together with music or voice-over.) The point here is thnt montage doesn’t use the individual shot to convey the main idea of a sequence; it conveys the main idea through the edit, i.e. through the cuts between individual shots. In this way, montage is about using the absence and incompleteness of images to communicate; in the break of continuous action arises the idea. This communicated idea, however, doesn’t arise effectively through ANY juxtaposition of shots; the series must be meticulously constructed. Ultimately, the juxtaposition communicates through the convergence of continuity and discontinuity across juxtaposed shots, A + B = C.
The Scope
The Video
The Artist's Statement
How much time do people spend on BEING human? How frequently do people “stop the smell the roses?” Being a human does not and should not stop for anyone or anything. There is always something to do or something that needs to get done. The to-do list is never-ending and, at times, seems as if tasks were multiplying by the second, all of which are expected to be done by a specific date at a particular time. This has affected people’s lives so much that when asked “how are you doing?” the typical response is to list off the litany of things one must get done in the next hour or so. In Omid Safi’s, The Disease of Being Busy, he writes that when asked correctly, he is not asking about one’s to-do list, but the state of being the individual is in. To quote him directly, he says in many Muslim cultures the inquiry is phrased in Arabic or Persian, which is best translated to “How is your heart doing at this very moment, at this breath?”[1]
There is no escaping the to-do list, especially in the United States of America. USA Today reported in 2018, Americans receive, on average, ten days of paid time off, which little compares to other countries around the world.[2] Yet, reflecting on a typical American vacation, there is also an endless to-do list. Either people spend this time catching up on chores and attending to family members, or they go on vacations away from their homes where they are continuously plugged into what is happening at work or attending to a rigorous itinerary because their time there is limited. Nevertheless, the mind is continually occupied the emails which continually surge into the inbox, and texts from work will continue to send updates on the progress of the deal. One must wonder, is taking a vacation more exhausting than staying at work? What can one do to change this now, “at this very moment, this breath?”
Safi offers a simple solution. When asked, “how are you doing?” answer truthfully and honestly in the best way possible to represent how one’s heart is doing in the moment. On the verse side of the question, when asking someone how they are doing, ask them to give an honest account of their heart. Filmmaker, YouTuber, and small business owner, Mark Miller, offers another just as simple solution. The business he created with his partner is surrounded by the phrase “every day is a good day.” Most, if not all, his videos and films he has created surrender to this ideal/mentality. One might ask, how can this be since people do not always have the time of their lives doing the mundane things in their lives?
Miller pays close attention to the small things in life which have made his day. Whether it be a walk he took with his dog or learning about the craft of his neighbor, the common thread through his videos and films is capturing humans being humans. His latest film, Colors of Kaua'i, is a documentary of the first Pride Parade on the island of Kaua'i. The documentary featured the people instrumental in achieving this event and how it was vital for them to have an opportunity to celebrate their identity on the island. The stories revolved their being and how this was an expression of themselves and the LGBTQ+ community in Kaua’i. Although there was a lot to do to get to this state, this event was all about being who they are and celebrating their identity.
Similarly, Ser Huma garbles with the importance of the human existence in the notion of doing versus being. The video shows small things people can do right now to rejuvenate the essence of being, such as dancing in the rain, lying on the grass, and just dancing. Yet, what one hears is the white noise of an office which is continuous through the entire video. The cinematic black blocks are placed intentionally on these “human” shots to further show how these simple things are only seen on screen and not a reality for many. These shots are offset by shots of people working on their computers and in an office. During these shots, one can hear the birds and rain in the background. These sounds have become readily available to people through YouTube or even Spotify, in an attempt to bring people back to this state of being. Between the shots, one will hear the iconic noise Apple computers make when sending and receiving emails on the desktop application. The reality is, no matter where one is doing has become more important than being.
[1] https://onbeing.org/blog/the-disease-of-being-busy/
[2] https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/careers/2018/08/16/how-far-behind-america-paid-time-off-rest-world/1000674002/